Brewers Sign Alex Gonzalez

TUESDAY, 7:23pm: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (on Twitter) that the deal is worth $4.25MM. A $4MM option for 2013 will vest with 525 plate appearances, a level Gonzalez has reached in each of the last two seasons.

MONDAY, 11:18am: The Brewers announced the signing of shortstop Alex Gonzaleztoday. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first tweeted news of the agreement last week, noting that it's a one-year deal with a vesting option for 2013. Gonzalez will take over as Milwaukee's starting shortstop, a position occupied by Yuniesky Betancourt this year. Gonzalez is represented by Eric Goldschmidt.

Gonzalez, 34, hit .241/.270/.372 with 15 home runs in 593 plate appearances for the Braves in 2011. UZR suggests Gonzalez was average defensively this year and above-average from 2006-10. Gonzalez seems to represent an upgrade over Betancourt, but not by much. In November, the Braves elected not to offer arbitration to Gonzalez, so they won't be receiving a supplemental draft pick for the loss. The Cardinals and Giants had also been linked to Gonzalez.

As our free agent tracker shows, the list of available shortstops includes Betancourt, Ronny Cedeno,Nick Punto, and Jimmy Rollins. Most of the clubs that lost or need shortstops, such as the Giants, Braves, Rays, Mets, Phillies, and Astros, say they have acceptable internal candidates. It doesn't seem like Rollins has much leverage to extract a big five-year deal out of the Phillies.

Nobody with a brain was seriously expecting (or hoping for) Reyes. The Brewers needed a plus defender at SS, anything more would have been a bonus. Now they need to make a play for Ramirez or possibly a journeyman 1b (Pena?).

Before anyone flips out, Alex Gonzalez had a 1.1 fWAR last year compared to Betancourt’s 0.5. Betancourt was paid 4.35 mil last year, so as long as Gonzalez is the same or less money, its an upgrade at no cost.

For those of you not in KC or Seattle, you just wouldn’t understand what it’s like watching Betancourt play. It’s like punching yourself in the groin for 2 1/2 hours every night. Hence the excitement of a 0.6 WAR upgrade.

That is EXACTLY what it’s like watching Yuni play. No more watching balls get through the left side of the infield and wondering where Yuni was, only to see on the replay that he never even moved towards it. I don’t care if Gonzalez hits .143 next year, this is a breath of fresh air.

Now Melvin should go for A. Ramirez or C. Beltran. I would prefer Ramirez. Iff it were Beltran, the Crew could move Hart to first base. Also one interesting player is C. Pena. If Pena was pursued by the Crew I would pray that they would go after Ramirez with him just because Ramirez is more consistant. Ramirez’s batting average is pretty much garanteed to be 100 points higher than Pena’s. All three players could benefit from the friendly hitters park that Miller park provides.

I don’t see the Brewers moving Hart to 1B. Melvin has already said he wouldn’t do that, but if past says anything, it is that anything can still happen. Brewers also are going to be tied down with K-Rod’s salary, so I don’t see them making too many big moves the rest of this offseason. They will definitely go after a reliever or two, and also some depth for the bench.

Dude is frustrating as anyone with the bat…mostly because he has the ability to hit but just chooses not to for some reason. But damn…he makes SS look so damn pretty. Been a Sea Bass fan for years…was delighted to have him in Atlanta for a while.

As desperately as any 96 win team in baseball, I suppose. I’d rather take my chances with Braddock as our lefty, especially if the Angels would be open to swapping the two none-tender candidates of Morales and Parra.

All I said was that he has a lot of upside, which I honestly believe. He has plenty of talent, just needs to get his head straight. He’ll never be a SP, but he can certainly thrive as a reliever. Just don’t let any hitters see him more than twice in a game.

Having said that, 1.2 mil (or whatever he’s due this year) is probably a bit much and if the Angels would trade for Morales even up, I’d do that all day long and roll the dice with Braddock this year. Platoon him (Morales)with Gamel and that would be plenty of offense, assuming they can figure out a way to afford Ramirez at 3rd.

Alex Gonzalez is as good a fielding shortstop as anyone in the National League. UZR suggests that he was average, and he wasn’t. Tremendous defender, DRS agrees, as did anyone who followed the Braves last year.

At the end of last season I think all Braves fans and Brewers fans would have agreed to an Agonz-YuBet trade. Both are very impatient and frustrating, Yubet seems to have not reached his ceiling and strikes out considerably less is why he’s my preference personally. Thank said, I’m AMAZED he’s had a starting job for six consecutive years.

I’d rather the Braves bring back Jack Wilson, he’s a ton of fun to watch in the field and gives that same no offense feel for cheaper.

At the end of last season I think all Braves fans and Brewers fans would have agreed to an Agonz-YuBet trade. Both are very impatient and frustrating, Yubet seems to have not reached his ceiling and strikes out considerably less is why he’s my preference personally. Thank said, I’m AMAZED he’s had a starting job for six consecutive years.

I’d rather the Braves bring back Jack Wilson, he’s a ton of fun to watch in the field and gives that same no offense feel for cheaper.

that’s not even much of an exaggeration. 17% of his balls in play were infield popups. he popped up in the infield exactly as often as he hit a line-drive. that with a walk-rate under 3% while swinging at pitches out of the zone 40% of the time

I’ve never been a Brewers or Royals fan, so I never watched him closely, but if those are accurate that’d make me sick as a fan too. Brandon Crawford is twice the player those stats indicate, and I’m not exactly excited about the possibility of him starting at SS for the Giants